


Tender Care

by Steph_R94



Series: Try Me [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-03-15
Packaged: 2018-01-15 18:42:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1315264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steph_R94/pseuds/Steph_R94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noel is left to take care of Lightning after a failed date. Once more that little phrase that is becoming so common between them is slipped in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tender Care

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter takes place a week after Comfort. 
> 
> Disclaimer:: The Final Fantasy XIII trilogy and characters belong to Square Enix.

                Noel could instantly tell that Lightning was having a bad night. The punching bag in front of her was suffering her upset. As he leaned against the wall, he watching the bag jerk and swing back as if reluctant. He shook his head.

               Serah had convinced Lightning to go on a date with some man that had worked alongside her at the school. She had only just gotten back hours ago, but Noel could tell it had went badly when she stormed past Serah.

               _“Don’t!”_ Lightning had snapped when Serah opened her mouth to ask how the date went. Noel had moved to follow her when Serah turned her sad blue eyes toward him. He knew what she was asking. She wanted him to go to her and try to calm her down. Just because Lightning and he were getting closer, Serah and Snow seemed to think he could fix everything when Serah couldn’t. It was awkward. What made them think that Lightning would open up to him? The answer came just as he finished the thought.

_“Thank you,”_ Serah had whispered after a random hug she had given him. Noel had looked at her strangely as she pulled back. _“Lightning told me about you being there for her the other night.”_ She explained. _“You managed to get her to talk about her nightmares.”_ Serah had raised a fist to her chest and looked at the floor. _“I knew she was having nightmares for a while now, but she would never confide in me when I asked…”_

               Noel had just placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her lightly. When she turned her blue eyes up to him, he had simply smiled and told her, _“I was just in the right place at the right time. It could have been Snow or you. I’m sure she would have acted the same.”_

Noel scratched his head as he watched Lightning wreak havoc on the defenseless bag with poorly wrapped hands. He supposed he should stop her before she bruised her hands to the point of uselessness.

               “Bad night?” He spoke up as he pushed away from the archway of the training room and walked toward her. Lightning stepped back and looked over at him. Her green eyes burned with such fire that he was certain she would burn him alive if he came any closer; but Noel didn’t back down. He was never afraid of being burned. The chain that held the bag up creaked as it swung back and forth like a large cylinder pendulum. It was the only sound in the silence. Startling blue stared easily into burning green eyes. The fire in her eyes seemed to only highlight the blue that was mixed in among the green. Lightning shook her head and pressed her hand to her forehead.

               “I don’t want to talk about it,” Lightning told him as she lowered her hand. The sweat from her hands made the burst open skin on her knuckles burn and throb. Quickly, like removing a band aid, she unwrapped her hands. She hissed slightly as skin came off with it. Blood coated the once white bandage. Noel grabbed the water that Lightning had lay off to the side. Lightning glanced up as he uncapped the water. “What are you doing?” She asked as he gently took one of her hands in his. He poured the cool water over her bloodied hand. She suppressed the urge to jerk it back at the stinging. Noel waited until both of her hands were clean of blood before he questioned her.

               “What went wrong?” He asked as he reached from the first aid kit. Lightning’s tongue had been loosened by the care he had shown her. Her shock had made her lips move before she could process it.

               “Everything,” Lightning stated as he gently dapped at each of her knuckles with a cotton ball covered in hydrogen peroxide. She watched as the wounds began to bubble. She wasn’t fascinated by the bubbling of her wounds; it was Noel’s care that was fascinating her. He let go of her left hand to reach into the first aid kit for some bandages.

               “I think that punching bag over there needs a little more information before it can forgive you,” Noel told her with a slight smile. Lightning found a smile ticking onto her lips.

               “The punching bag’s feelings aside, I don’t think it would interest you,” Lightning told him as her focus returned to her hands. He was gently twining the bandage loosely over her hand.

               “Try me,” Noel said as he tilted his head to capture her eyes in his. Lightning chuckled.  

               “Alright. First, he was an hour late to the date he had arranged.” Noel flinched slightly. “After he arrived, he spent the entire night flirting with our waitress. Then, he invited me back to his place because _he didn’t want the night to end_.”

               “How bad is he going to look tomorrow when Serah goes to work?” Noel asked. Lightning smirked.

               “I only hit him once,” Lightning deadpanned.

               “Really?” The surprise in his tone made her roll her eyes. She had only hit Snow two times but the group refused to let her live it down.

               “I’ve calmed down a lot since Snow, you know,” Lightning told him.

               “The punching bag says otherwise,” Noel said as he jerked his thumb toward the now gently swinging punching bag.

               “It’s an inanimate object, Noel. It doesn’t know anything.”

               “Hey! It can hear you!”

               “You’re such a dork,” Lightning snorted as she shook her head. Noel grinned as he watched her walk away.

               “Yeah, but it made you feel better,” he muttered quietly as he put away the things from the first aid kit.

               Later on that night, Lightning lay in her bed. She raised one of her bandaged hands up toward the ceiling. The memory of Noel’s calloused hands gently wrapping the white bandage around her knuckles rose into her mind. Heat threatened to rise onto her face. She wasn’t used to being cared for. She wasn’t used to anyone being so gentle with her.

               “Stop it!” Lightning scolded herself as she rolled over onto her side. “Just fucking stop.” She didn’t need this! She didn’t need to feel this way. Sexual tension she could deal with, but this warm feeling that made her heart race could go rot in the fiery pits of hell. She punched her pillow twice before laying her head down onto it again.

               _“You are the strongest woman I know.”_

_“If I have anything to say about it, you’ll never have to go there again.”_

“Motherfucker!”

 


End file.
